News

Canada's outdated wine shipping laws were under the microscrope again today with no lesser body than the House of Commons pulled into the debate. It turns out that the House of Commons was planning to have a "wine tasting reception" for MPs and Senators later this year where they would compare wines from across Canada in order to select a house wine for the Commons. Wineries in BC were among those invited to ship samples direct to Ottawa. Of course, normally wineries can't ship out of province at all due to an ancient post-prohibition federal law which is still on the books. The law contains an exemption for the government but winery owners were understandably miffed when asked to do something for elected officials which the rest of us can't enjoy - the Vancouver Sun covers the story here. More coverage from the National Post here. Personally, I think it's great that the MPs and Senators want to sample Canadian wine - a comparison tasting of many Canadian wines is a fine idea. However, it doesn't leave a good impression when the elected officials are able to organize something which the rest of us are prohibited from doing. Maybe our elected officials should take a short break from non-confidence motions and think about changing the 1928 federal law which stops the rest of us from having similar tastings.